Throughout post war history but markedly since the election UK workers have been told they are not productive enough. In a return to the union bashing anti-worker approach of the 1970s and 1980s the…Read more…
Older workers – Can we afford to ignore them?
The workplace at present is full of uncertainties and insecurity. But one thing is certain. The workforce is getting older and workers, by choice or necessity, are working longer. So what are…Read more…
The Trade Union Bill: The Government should be careful what it wishes for
Let’s give credit where it is due. And the hype is true. The government’s new Trade Union Bill is the most significant piece of trade union legislation in a generation; perhaps even longer than…Read more…
Unions respond to the Government’s Trade Union Bill
The Government has published the Trade Union Bill and drawn criticism from across the movement, writing on the touchstone blog, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The…Read more…
Is industrial action undemocratic? Let’s bust that myth
The government’s legislative plans for the year ahead include a Trade Unions Bill that would create a 50% voting threshold for union strike ballot turnouts, and a requirement that 40% of those…Read more…
The 2015 Election: Is this the end for Coalition Politics?
As we enter the last week of campaigning ahead of the election just about every opinion pollster and everyone following this election will be saying we are entering a new phase of coalition politics…Read more…
John Park’s article on Rebalancing the Economy
Today Unions21 was at Scottish TUC Congress with a standing-room-only fringe event in Ayr entitled: ‘The rebalancing act: How should we tackle inequality?’ . The event was the Scottish launch of…Read more…
Why So Few Women Are in Positions of Power
This snappy title for a new book by former trade union leader, John Edmonds and former teacher/adviser on equality, Eva Tutchell, should influence the important current debate around that topic. As…Read more…
Rachel Reeves, Maternity Leave and CWU Youth
The utterly appalling and reactionary howls that greeted Rachel Reeve’s maternity leave plans remind us that although we have come a long way, there is still just as far to go on when it comes…Read more…
Workplace injuries cost billions and ruin lives, but this government is determined to rollback vital health and safety laws
The ground-breaking Health and Safety at Work Act is 40 years old and there has been a lot of progress over the years which should be celebrated. Britain is one of the safest countries in the world…Read more…
Winchester Needs a Pay Rise
I was looking forwards to making an occasion of the TUC’s Britain Needs a Pay Rise march and rally in October until we had to back out when my son caught a tummy bug. I had experienced TUC marches…Read more…
What did the EU ever do for working people?
The UK’s often turbulent relationship with the European Union seems to be getting stormier by the day. With UKIP support rising to record levels, the Conservatives have been pushed into an…Read more…
Labour Party special conference secures Ed Miliband’s status as one of the great reforming leaders in Labour’s history
Fourteen years ago this week I was at a small gathering in Farringdon Street to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the modern day Labour Party. It’s a treasured memory that has stayed with…Read more…
Unions21 unions and the Lobbying Bill
Unions21 is a trade union network that shares best practice and new ideas between its members. For the first time, its steering committee have decided that Unions21 should put forward a position on…Read more…
Zero power for workers on zero hours contracts
The Thompsons Solicitors Union Home blog Following an informal information gathering exercise last year, the government recently announced a consultation on zero hours contracts to investigate…Read more…
11% pay increase for MP’s- sounds reasonable to me!
It appears that MP’s truly get a bad press and when they get some good news we cannot help but knock them for six. Take the 11% increase in pay announced by the independent parliamentary…Read more…
Handling small-scale redundancies
The regular Thompsons Solicitors blog British workers are feeling less secure than at any time in the past 20 years. Below-inflation pay cuts are creating a cost of living crisis whilst…Read more…
‘Making a killing’ or protecting Royal Mail workers’ rights?
Most of the media focus has been on the government’s ‘hugely successful’ sale of our 400+ year-old Royal Mail at a knockdown price to their chums in the City. Over at the postal…Read more…
Straws in the wind?
At the Labour Conference fringe in Brighton, there was a distinct change of mood. It wasn’t just Ed Miliband’s one hour ‘tour de force’ but also the warm reception given to…Read more…
Government advice to interns fails to address the root cause of their exploitation
The Thompsons Solicitors UnionHome blog Internships have become a way for unscrupulous employers to undermine and evade the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the government has recently…Read more…